


A Birthday Disaster

by LoserLikeSkeeter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Birthday Party, M/M, sirius is an absolute disaster, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-07 00:16:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17949926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoserLikeSkeeter/pseuds/LoserLikeSkeeter
Summary: Remus Lupin hates his birthday. Sirius wants to fix that.





	A Birthday Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Zompyre for being a good and patient beta for the last couple of months!

“I mean it, Sirius.” Remus said, absently carding the fingers of one hand through Sirius’s hair as he flipped the pages of his book with the other, “I don’t like birthdays.”

“Yes, you do. You _literally_ turned our living room into a ball pit for Teddy’s fifth and I _swear_ you had more fun than he did-”

He rolled his eyes then, flipping his book shut and leaning to set it on the side table. “Fine, then. I just don’t like _my_ birthday.”

“Come _on._ ” Sirius groaned, sitting up then, “We can have a party. We can invite some people over. We haven’t had anyone over to the new house yet. It could be _fun.”_ At Remus’s adamant refusal, Sirius crossed his arms over his chest, planting his feet, “I _guess_ I’ll just have to surprise you then.”

Remus couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at that, “You know it isn’t a surprise if you tell me about it, right?”

“I’ll just have to do it when you least expect.” Sirius said with a shrug.

He rolled his eyes then, leaning forward to collect his book from the table once more. Remus winged at the knowledge that this was a battle that he was not going to win, “I will have you know that I dislike surprises almost as much as the annual reminder of my own mortality.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” Sirius chided as he rolled off the couch and to his feet, heading for the door then.

“Where are you going?”

He turned with a devious smile on his face then, “I've got planning to do.”

 

*

 

“Teddy,” Sirius murmured, shaking the little boy out of his sleep, “Ted, get up. We’ve got work to do.”

The little boy rolled over just long enough to get a glimpse out of his window before pulling his pillow over his head, “It’s still dark outside.” he groaned.

“I know it is.” Sirius insisted excited, pulling the pillow away from Teddy’s wild head of hair, “I know it is. It’s Dad’s birthday today. Do you want to help me with the surprise?”

"What surprise?"

Sirius urged the little boy out of bed, laying out clothes for him to change into, "How do you feel about doing some coloring for me, Ted? I still need a someone to help me make a banner for the living room."

"Yeah!" Teddy exclaimed, charging from his room at full tilt.

 

*

 

“How are we doing over there, Ted?” Sirius called, as he worked frantically in the kitchen.

“Almost done, Padfoot..” he said excitedly.

“Good boy. Once you’re done with that banner, you can come in here and help decorate the cake.”

It was only one day after the full moon, but it was Remus’s birthday and they were hellbent on celebrating. Sirius had insisted on it and Teddy had been more than willing to collaborate.

“Can I have juice?” Teddy asked, toddering into the kitchen, “I want juice.”

Sirius let out an exhausted sigh. He’d forgotten how much effort Teddy could be in the morning, “Of course you can have juice.” he said, leaving the sausages to simmer as he went to get the carton from the refrigerator. He poured a shallow glass and handed it off to Teddy cautiously, “Both hands.” he instructed, returning to the stove then, “Please be careful.”

The front door creaked open a moment later, and Tonks peaked her head into the kitchen, “How is Remus doing today?” she asked, placing a wrapped gift down on the counter, “He didn’t look too good last night when I dropped Teddy off.”

“He’s tired, but he’s alright.” Sirius said matter-of-factly, “I figured we should let him sleep at least until breakfast is ready. Teddy’s in the other room, setting up a banner. Do you want to help him finish and I’ll bring in breakfast in a few minutes?”

“What banner? What are you making a banner for?” she asked nervously, “ _Sirius-_ ”

“We're throwing a surprise party. The invitations went out last night. The food is almost done and drinks are being chilled. All we’ve got to do is decorate, so if you could please-”

She crossed her arms over her chest, “He hates his birthday.” she whispered in alarm, “He’s going to be furious; you know that, right? The moon was two nights ago. He’s _exhausted_ and _this_ is what you thought you would do. And... _why_ have you decided to throw a party over breakfast?”

Clearly unphased by her shock, Sirius waved her off, “Because it wouldn't be a surprise if we had it at a  _normal_ time, would it?”

Tonks shook her head in bewilderment, “This is ridiculous. Thanks for the invitation, by the way.”

“I figured you’d find your way over here eventually. You usually do.” Sirius turned away from the stove once more, “Are you going to help or not?”

She let out an exasperated sigh, turning toward the living room to join Teddy in decorating, “I like my bacon extra crispy!” she called over her shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah.”

A moment later, a crashing sound came rumbling through the house. Sirius dropped his spatula onto the counter before ripping into the living room at full speed, to take in the scene before him, “Bloody hell.” he guffawed, sinking down before Tonks, who was in a crumpled mass on the floor.

She’d slipped in the mess that Teddy’s overturned glass of orange juice has caused, and the crash that had resulted shook the entire house. She’d gone arse over kettle, cracking the back of her head on the hardwood floor, “Are you alright?” Sirius asked nervously, “Are you hurt?”

Tonks winced hard as he helped her to a sitting position, “Nope.” she chuckled weakly, even as her head continued to spin, “Well, yeah. Yep, I’m hurt.” she groaned, her weight falling back against his chest, “Can you just...can you put me on the couch? I’ll be fine in a minute, I think.”

As he inched her towards the couch, Tonks’s eyes grew wide, “Oh, _Merlin’s pants.”_ she groaned out, as Sirius dropped her to the couch, “Remus is going to blow his lid.”

“Nah, he’ll be fine.”

“No, Sirius, look at what Teddy’s done to the wall.” she snapped, pointing to a massive, inconcealable multicolored drawing, stretched across the entirety of the wall across from the couch. In front of the masterpiece stood an admittedly proud Teddy Lupin.

“ _No._ ” Sirius gasped, taking in the damaged, “Ted, you were supposed to use the paper.” he sighed, clamping the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

Teddy’s proud expression faltering to one of worry, “Sorry, Padfoot.”

Sirius took a deep breath, composing himself enough to smile and kneel down before the young boy, “No, it’s not bad, Ted. It looks nice.” He was relieved when the wry smile reappeared on Teddy’s face, “Why don’t you go get some ice from the kitchen for your mum’s head. Can you do that?”

Teddy nodded, happy to be given another job. He ran straight through the spilled orange juice, tracking footprints all the way back down the hall and into the kitchen.

Resigning himself to the disaster that his brilliant birthday plan had quickly become, Sirius began sifting his fingers through bright pink hair, inspecting the damage that had been inflicted, “You have got quite the bump back here.” he said lightly, “Such a clutz, Nymphadora.”

“I’m not the one who handed a toddler markers and and uncapped cup and told him to go to town, now, was I?” she scowled, as he continued to appraise her wound, “I’m fine, Sirius.” she finally frumbled, pushing herself to siotting and peering around the utterly destroyed room, “Let me help you clean some of this before Remus wakes up.”

“Padfoot!” Teddy called loudly from the kitchen, “ _Padfoot, here!_ ”

Sirius let out a deep sigh, pushing himself to his feet and meandering toward the kitchen. As soon as it come into full view, his parental panic began to set it, “ _Shit._ ” he bellowed, grabbing Teddy round the middle and charging him back into the living room, depositing him onto the couch where Tonks still sat.

“What is it?” she questioned, watching as he yanked the afghan off the back of the couch and charged back into the kitchen with it.

“ _Something’s on bloody fire._ ” he responded in exasperation, chucking the afghan over the stove and the remains of their smoldering breakfast, snuffing out the fire. From the oven came a funnel of new smoke only a moment later, “That’ll be the cake.” he grumbled to himself, pulling the burnt and charred remnants of what had promised to be a lovely dessert from the oven. Exasperated beyond all belief, he bundled all of the charred food in the destroyed afghan, heading for the patio to dispose of it.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake.” Tonks grumbled, watching as he chucked all of his morning’s work into the yard, “I made that afghan, you know.” she spat.

“I’m sure it lived a good, long life.” Sirius grumbled in reply, scooping ice into a kitchen towel and placing it against the crown of her head where a massive welt was beginning to sprout.

“Do... _any_ of you care to explain what’s happened down here?” Remus’s tired voice questioned from the doorway.

Three sets of wary eyes settled on him, as they felt him out. Remus’s arms were crossed over his chest, but his eyes were stuck somewhere out in no-man's-land, between fury and amusement, “Surprise!” Tonks murmured weakly, a half-smile playing at her lips as she clung to the ice pack atop her head, “Happy birthday?”

“We surprised you, Daddy!” Teddy cheered, his chubby fists held high over his head in triumph. Sirius wanted nothing more in that moment than for the floor to open up and swallow him whole. It appeared to him that Tonks seemed to be reacting about as well to the humiliation.

“I am _incredibly_ surprised.” Remus murmured, lifting the little boy onto his hip, “And your wall art, Teddy; that’s really something. What happened to you?” he questioned, eyeing Tonks suspiciously.

“Orange juice casualty, unfortunately.” she said guiltily, eyeing the spill that now trailed all across the living and back and forth from the kitchen.

Nobody in the room was quite sure of Remus's reaction. He looked as though he were stuck on whether to scream or laugh out loud at the mess they'd managed to create. It would be just plain mean, he'd thought to himself, to berate them when they already looked so embarrassed. There both Sirius and Tonks sat, looking like beaten-down puppies, their eyes cast in embarrassment upon the floor. He couldn’t allow himself to not get in at least one comment however, “You two...am I correct in assuming that neither you thought to _use magic?_ For any of this?”

Sirius and Tonks looked between themselves, stunned. Truly, the thought hadn’t occurred to either of them, “We’re really sorry.” Tonks said, practically begging him to not pick at them further.

“It’s alright.” he sighed, shaking his head in amusement as he looked from the pile of smoldering food on the patio, to the “wall art” that Teddy had so carefully curated, and then back to Tonks’s iced wound in disbelief, “All things considered I say it could have gone a lot worse.” he chuckled, setting Teddy down then, “Why don’t we clean up here and then we’ll go find some lunch?”

“I think that’s the first sensible idea any of us has had all day.” Sirius agreed.

 

*

 

“Well, how was _that_ for a celebration of mortality?” Sirius joked half-heartedly as they prepared for bed. The day had been long, stressful, a far cry from what he’d envisioned in the days leading up to the event, “I guess if nothing else...you were sufficiently surprised.” Sirius murmured weakly, “Thanks for getting the marker off of the wall. You know I’ve never been too good at those sorts of spells.”

It had taken the better part of the day to shake their guests, who had appeared shortly after the morning debacle. After the rocky that they’d started off with, it was only compounded by having their home crowded to overflowing for hours on end with friends, including Tonks who had followed after them for the better part of the afternoon, apologizing profusely for the mess that she felt she’d caused. Glad as they would have been on any other day to receive the Weasleys, Harry, and others, on this particular day the excitement had been marred by the fact that the entire celebration was due to a complete disregard on Sirius’s part for what his partner had truly wanted - a moment of peace and quiet on his birthday.

In his frustration, Remus had opted to not speak, for he knew if he’d said anything at all it likely would have hurt Sirius’s feelings. They’d managed to get through the party nearly entirely on opposite sides of the den. If they hadn’t each known better, they would have assumed there was nothing off - until, that is, they were left alone for the first time that day. As they both flitted around the room, getting ready for bed, not a word passed between them. The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife.

Finally, though, Sirius took it upon himself to break the silence, “Look,” he grumbled, flopping back onto the bed, still half-clothed, with his hair splayed in all directions, “I didn’t know it would go that badly.”

“I must have told you a dozen different times, Sirius.”

“I know you did.” he admitted, “But I thought you were just back on your self-deprecating bullshit. I didn’t know you were _serious_.” Remus couldn’t help but let out an incredulous snort at that, “I just wanted you to have something nice on your birthday. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t ever listen.” Remus grumbled, as he made his way towards the bed - and Sirius - for the first time all day.

“I know.” he conceded, his eyes falling to the floor as Remus stopped in front of his, arms crossed over his chest.

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I know that, too.”

“I love you.” he murmured, in a tone so soft, Sirius couldn’t help but peer up at his partner in stunned silence.

“W-what?”

“You heard me.” Remus chuckled, taking Sirius’s face between his hands and pressing a kiss to his lips, “Thank you for...well...whatever _that_ was. It was...well, the sentiment was nice.”

Sirius sat up, his eyes twinkling, “You’re welcome.” he smiled, pulling Remus to him then, “At least next year there’ll be nowhere to go but up.”

An uproarious laugh rippled between the both of them then as Remus gasped out, “Sirius, _no._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it took me months to get this little story to a point where I was happy with it, so I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. <3


End file.
